The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a gas turbine engine and, more specifically, to a fuel nozzle assembly with features to reduce amplitudes in combustion dynamics and to improve durability, operability, and reliability.
A gas turbine engine combusts a mixture of fuel and air to generate hot combustion gases, which in turn drive one or more turbines. In particular, the hot combustion gases force turbine blades to rotate, thereby driving a shaft to rotate one or more loads, e.g., an electrical generator. The gas turbine engine includes a fuel nozzle assembly, e.g., with multiple fuel nozzles, to inject fuel and air into a combustor. In certain combustors, combustion processes may generate large amplitude pressure oscillations (e.g., screech) driven by oscillations in heat release due to coupling between flames of adjacent fuel nozzles and acoustic waves. These large pressure oscillations may impose operational limits and eventually result in combustor hardware damage.